COMPOSITE FAMILY. 105 



32. INUL A, ELECAMPANE. (Ancient Latin name.) Fl. summer. ^ 

 I. Hel6nium, COMMON ELECAMPANE. In old gardens and nat. from 



Eu. by roadsides; a stoiit herb, with stems 3 -5 high from a thick mucilagi- 

 nous root (used in medicine), large entire leaves woolly beneath, those from the 

 root ovate and petioled, the others partly clasping; heads large, but the rays 

 very narrow. 



33. CHRYSOPSIS, GOLDEN ASTER. (Name from two Greek words 

 meaning golden in appearance, from the yellow flowers.) Low herbs, wild 

 chiefly S. & W., in dry and barren or sandy soil : fl. summer and autumn. 



C. graminifblia, from Delaware S. : silvery-silky, with long lance-linear 

 and grass-like shining nerved leaves, and single or few heads. ^ 



C. falcata, on the coast, from Cape Cod to New Jersey : only 4' - 10' high, 

 woolly, clothed to the top with short and linear 3-nerved rigid leaves, which are 

 often curved or scythe-shaped (whence the specific name) ; heads small, 

 corymbed. JJ. 



C. gOSS^pina, from Virginia S. : white-cottony all over (whence the name), 

 with oblong obtuse rarely toothed leaves, and few pretty large heads, y. 



C. Mariana, the commonest species, from Long Island S. : silky with long 

 and weak hairs, or smoothish when old, with oblong leaves, and a few corymbed 

 heads on glandular peduncles. ^[ 



C. villosa, from Wisconsin S. & W. : coarsely hairy and somewhat hoary, 

 leafy to the top, with corymbed branches bearing single heads on short pedun- 

 cles, and narrow-oblong leaves. ^ 



34. SOLIDAGO, GOLDEN-ROD. ( Old name, from Latin word to make 

 whole, from supposed healing qualities. ) There are very many species, flow- 

 ering through late summer and autumn. See Manual and Chapman's S. 

 Flora. The following are a few of the very commonest. ]^ 



1. Heads clustered in the axils of the feather-veined leaves. 



S. bicolor. Pale and downy or hairy, with oblong or lance-oblong scarcely 

 toothed leaves, and small heads with cream-colored or nearly white ray-flowers*! 



S. latifblia, of shaded banks N. : smooth, with broadly ovate pointed and 

 sharply serrate thin leaves, and bright yellow ray-flowers. 



S. Cfiesia is like the last, but with more branched and glaucous stems, and 

 lanceolate or lance-oblong sessile leaves. 



2. Heads in racemes forming a terminal panicle. 

 * Leaves ftather-veined, not 3-ribbed. 



S. argtlta. Smooth, with the lowest and root-leaves oblong or lance-oval 

 pointed and sharply toothed, the upper narrower and entire ; the slender one- 

 sided naked racemes widely spreading or drooping. 



S. altissima, badly named, as it is mostly only 2 - 4 high, one of the 

 earliest-flowering Golden-rods, with rough-hairy stem, small lance-ovate or 

 oblong and sen-ate very veiny leaves, and one-sided recurving racemes of small 

 heads of bright-yellow flowers. 



* * Leaves feather-veined and indistinctly triple-ribbed, entire or nearly so, grayish. 

 S. nemoralis, in dry open ground, flowering soon after midsummer, only 



1 -2 high, pale with very minute down ; the leaves spatulate-oblong or oblan- 

 ceolate ; one-sided dense racemes numerous and at length recurving, and flowers 

 bright golden-yellow. 



* * * Leaves plainly either 3-ribbed or triple-ribbed : racemes one-sided, crowded, 



spreading or recurving and forming an ample panicle. 



S. Canad6nsis, has rough-hairy stems, lanceolate and usually serrate 

 pointed leaves rather downy beneath but rough above, and small heads with 

 short rays. 



S. gigant^a is smooth or smoothish, especially the stem, and with larger 

 heads and rays than the preceding. 



